Chapter 21 Direct Behavioral Assessment What to Record and How Study Questions 1 What does the topography of behavior mean Describe an example that is not in this chapter The topography of a response is the specific movements involved in making the response For example suppose a teacher wants to shape the correct way to hold a pencil in a student with developmental disabilities The teacher might first identify the way that the student is holding his her pencil before beginning the shaping process The teacher would then proceed with a shaping program based on the correct way of holding a pencil 2 Name two common measures of the overall amount of a given behavior Frequency Duration 3 What does the frequency of a behavior mean Describe an example that is not in this chapter Frequency or rate of behavior refers to the number of instances of a behavior that occurs in a given period of time For example every time a rabbit goes to take a drink of water from the water bottle 4 Describe three ways to keep track of the number of times a certain response occurs during a day Frequency graph Each data point represents the total number of times an instance occurs in a given period of time Cumulative graph Each response for a condition during a session is cumulated or added to the total responses of all previous session for that condition Recording sheet A type of instance is recorded up the side of the graph and the days of the program are recorded across the bottom 5 Describe at least four ways in which a cumulative graph of a set of data differs from a frequency graph of the same Frequency graphs seem to be more unorganized then cumulative graphs It is easier to read a cumulative graph then it is to read a frequency graph Cumulative graphs cannot decline They can only increase or zero out Frequency graphs record what would be considered important data in some programs unlike cumulative graphs because they cannot decline 6 On a cumulative graph what can you infer from the following You can infer either a high or steep slope or a flat line 7 What two characteristics do behaviors recorded in terms of frequency usually show How many instances occurred and each session of recording 8 What do we mean by the relative duration of a behavior Give and explain an example in which relative duration might be more appropriate than frequency The relative duration of behavior is the length of time that it occurs within some period In dealing with a behavior such as temper tantrumming you may be more concerned with its duration than with its frequency In fact frequency can be ambiguous when trying to apply it to something like temper tantrums 9 What is another word for the intensity of a response Describe an example in which it would important to measure the intensity of a behavior Magnitude 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 When voice loudness is the behavior of concern decibel level can be measured by a device called a voice meter Define stimulus control and give an example Stimulus control refers to the degree of correlation between a stimulus and a response An example of an assessment instrument that evaluates stimulus control is the Assessment of Basic Learning Abilities ABLA test The ABLA assesses the ease with which persons with intellectual disabilities are able to learn six stimulus discrimination levels Name the six levels that the ABLA assesses Level 1 imitation Level 2 position discrimination Level 3 visual discrimination Level 4 visual match to sample Level 5 auditory discrimination Level 6 auditory visual combined discrimination Describe the details of the stimulus control assessed by Level 4 visual match to sample discrimination A client demonstrates visual match to sample behavior if when she or he is allowed to view the yellow can and the red box in randomized left right positions and is then presented a yellow cylinder or a red cube sequentially she or he consistently places the yellow cylinder in the yellow can and the red cube in the red box Describe the details of the stimulus control that the ABLA test assesses with Level 6 auditoryvisual combined discrimination The client correctly puts a nonmatching object into the yellow can or the red box when the position of the containers and the tester s request for one or the other are randomly alternated What do we mean by the latency of a response Describe an example that is not in this chapter Latency of a behavior is the time between the occurrence of a stimulus and the beginning of that behavior For example when someone s alarm goes off in the morning the time it takes for that person to get out of bed and start getting ready for their day is latency Using an example explain how the quality of a behavior is a refinement of one or more of the other dimensions of behavior In judgmental sports such as diving gymnastics and figure skating athletes receive points based on the quality of their performances But quality is not a characteristic additional to those mentioned previously Rather it is a refinement of one or more of them Define continuous recording Describe an example that is not in this chapter Continuous recording is the recording of every instance of a behavior during a designated observation period For example every instance a child picks his her nose Define interval recording Distinguish between the partial interval recording system and the whole interval recording system 18 19 20 21 22 23 Interval recording logs the behavior as either occurring or not occurring during short intervals of equal duration e g intervals of 10 seconds during the specified observation period such as 30 minutes Partial interval recording records the target behavior a maximum of once per interval regardless of how many times that behavior occurs during each interval and regardless of the behavior s duration Whole interval recording notes the target behavior as occurring during an interval only if it persists throughout the entire interval When would one likely select a continuous recording system A continuous recording system is commonly used when successive responses are quite similar in duration such as the number of cigarettes smoked instances of a child pinching another child or frequency of saying ain t When would one likely select an interval recording system over a continuous recording system One would likely select an interval recording system if they would be observing more than one behavior Define time sampling recording Describe an example that is not in